Chelsea could sell these five players this summer in major squad clear-out – opinion

Chelsea’s 2017/18 campaign was one to forget. The quality within Antonio Conte’s ranks was drowned out by a wave of mediocrity which swept in the preceding summer.

The Blues spent a whole lot of cash on a whole lot of trash and suffered the consequences for the mistakes that were made in the transfer market.

This summer should not only be spent looking to strengthen by drafting in players of an adequate quality, but also shifting the deadwood which was weighing us down last term.

Chelsea247.com have chosen five players which we believe Chelsea should look to sell this summer. Do you agree with our selections, Blues?

Danny Drinkwater

Signing Danny Drinkwater was one of the biggest mistakes that the club have made in the transfer market in recent years – and that’s saying something.

When the deal went through on Deadline Day, the BBC reported that Chelsea parted with £35M in order to secure his services.

Such expenditure reeked of desperation. It’s incredibly unlikely that we’ll recoup anything near that figure for Drinkwater, but we have little use for him going forward. His time as a Chelsea player ended before it even began.

Davide Zappacosta

Another player who was signed on Deadline Day last year, Davide Zappacosta would surely have been someway down our list of targets to strengthen at right-wing-back.

Though he showed promise against Qarabağ FK in the Champions League, he struggled to reach that performance level against a higher standard of opposition.

We ought to sell Zappacosta this summer and invest the funds into a player who deserves to wear the Chelsea shirt.

Pedro

Pedro has proven to be a useful squad player since his arrival at the club in the summer of 2015. He’s still capable of playing that role, but we believe it’s time to cash-in.

The Spaniard is now 30-years-old. This could be our last opportunity to get some serious money in exchange for him and invest it into a younger winger whose best days are ahead of him.

Interest in Pedro would likely be high, he’s still a decent enough player and guarantees goals from the wing. This is perhaps one of the more controversial selections of ours.

Marco Van Ginkel

Marco Van Ginkel has not made a Premier League appearance for Chelsea in almost five-years, which isn’t a fair reflection of his quality.

He scored 16 goals from midfield last season, captaining PSV Eindhoven to the Eredivisie title. Van Ginkel deserves to be valued more than he is at Chelsea.

We’d love for the Dutchman to return to Stamford Bridge and be part of the first-team squad. However, if that’s not going to happen, we ought to take full advantage of how high is stock is following a superb campaign in his home country.

Willian

Many will argue that selling your Players’ Player of The Year is not the best way to start a squad rebuild, but we believe there could be logic to selling Willian.

According to the Daily Mail, Manchester United are prepared to pay as £60M to sign the Brazilian. We’re never going to be offered that sort of figure for him again.

Willian will be 30-years-old come the end of the year and is yet to perform consistently throughout a campaign for Chelsea.

We believe that £60M is more than he is worth. Though we’d be strengthening a direct rival for a couple of years, we could spend that money on a player like Bayer Leverkusen’s Leon Bailey or Bordeaux’s Malcom who could nail down a spot on the wing for a decade.

Let us know in the comments whether you agree with our selections or believe there are any players who we missed off our list.